Is this the start of a long struggle for public transport users in the Ile-de-France region?
This Monday, the CGT-RATP, the first public transport union, filed a strike notice lasting... 7 months.
This must therefore run from February 5 to September 9, a period including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, warned the trade union organization, unhappy with salary measures deemed
“insufficient”
.
An announcement which did not fail to provoke a reaction from users, worried about the consequences that this mobilization could have on their daily lives.
“Even if the strike is not continuous, the fact that the agents can walk out from one day to the next is quite worrying (...) Nobody wants to relive the slow strikes of December 2019
,” says this user of line 7.
“If the idea is to put pressure on to obtain better salary demands, that’s understandable, but I’m not sure it works
,” said this other passenger.
“The repeated nuisances have lasted too long.
We expected the CGT-RATP to come out of the woods with corporatist demands.
So you think, the Olympics are going to be open bar!”
, launches the latter.
“Don’t be impressed by the length”
“When we file a strike notice, it is in fact to put pressure
,” reacted Jean Castex on Monday evening, interviewed by Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) during an exceptional board meeting.
The CEO of RATP recalled that discussions were underway with trade union organizations regarding salary negotiations - the famous
“NAO”
(mandatory annual negotiations).
“It is undoubtedly to have influence in these negotiations that the notice was filed
,” he said, before continuing:
“with regard to the duration, I remind you that there are also notices of unlimited strike, so don't let yourself be impressed by the length of this notice
.
A long time justified for her part by Sophie Binet, the general secretary of the CGT, who spoke this Tuesday on
RTL
of “very restrictive rules regarding strike conditions for transport employees, with very short notice periods. long which means that, when there is a need to mobilize quickly, it is necessary to do so three weeks in advance
.
According to her, it is not a question of striking for 7 months, but just
“of being able to do it from one day to the next”
when necessary.
“That does not mean that there will be strikes for seven months at the RATP
,” she reassured.
Read alsoRATP: the CGT files strike notice until September
“We’re just increasing the balance of power”
Comments confirmed by Vincent Gautheron, deputy central union delegate at the CGT-RATP, who assures that the goal
“is not to go on strike indefinitely”
but rather
“to show the company that we are ready to take action"
.
“Certainly, the notice period is longer than what we are used to doing until now, but it is also not something that has never been done in the company
,” underlines the representative union, which does not hesitate to attack management:
“today, there is more trouble in transport due to the disorganization of the company than due to our strikes”
.
Before launching:
“we are just increasing the balance of power with the means at our disposal”
.
And if it is obvious that the choice of the CGT to include the period of the Olympic Games is not trivial, Vincent Gautheron assures that the notice
“is not linked to the organization of the Games, but rather to the revaluations salaries for the year 2024
.
“Management has decided to offer us the union minimum, no pun intended, with an increase which corresponds to 25 euros gross monthly (...) Despite everything that has been said about the “well-off” side of the agents of the the RATP, our salary scales start at only 55 euros gross monthly above the minimum wage, and reach only 342 euros gross monthly above the minimum wage for the machinists of whom we are sorely lacking
,” deplores the one who recalls that many of the employees of the RATP have staggered schedules and rest days.
“Today, they earn too much to qualify for social housing but not enough to find housing near Paris.
As a result, many of them are forced to go and live in the outer suburbs or even outside the region
,” regrets the CGT representative.
A real determination displayed by this union which is certainly the first union at the RATP ahead of FO, Unsa and the CFE-CGC but not the first among metro and RER drivers, we remind the parent company.
Everyone preaches for their parish and shows their cards, while at the same time the NAOs are negotiating agreements by branch on the amount of compensation that the RATP will pay to its employees who will have worked during the Olympics.
“Today, we are being told that if the NAOs are not important, it is because there will be a catch-up session with the Olympics, except that the discussions are still not finished and not all employees will be not in the same boat
.
In the meantime, the CGT is free to walk out at any time.